The Revolution of the earth is the movement of the Earth around the sun on its own orbit and it takes 362 ¼ days.
It can also take 366 days to make one complete revolution around the sun in every leap year. A leap year occurs after every four years.
Effects of movement of the earth round the sun
- Causes the four seasons.
- Causes lunar eclipse.
- Causes the Varying lengths of day and night.
Changes in the position of the midday sun at different times of the year. This causes the following, Summer solstice, winter solstice and equinoxes.
Characteristics of the summer solstice
- Day time is longer than night time at latitudes beyond the equator
- The hours of day time increase from the tropics towards the poles
- Occurs on 21st June when the sun is overhead at mid – day along the tropic of Cancer.
Characteristics of winter solstice
- Occurs 22nd December when the sun is midday along the Tropic of Capricorn.
- The sun is visible for only a few minutes when it appears above the southern horizon.
Characteristics of equinox’s solstice
- Occurs on 21st March and 23rd September.
- The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
- Equal hours of days and nights.
The four seasons
There are four main seasons namely:
- The spring
- Summer
- Autumn
- Winter
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